Hospital beds are provided with safety siderails. The express purpose of the siderail is to prevent a patient from inadvertently rolling out of the bed. The siderail must be movable, however, in order to permit the patient to exit the bed, or to permit medical attendants to minister to the patient. It is common to provide a four bar link mechanism to the siderail, configured to lower the siderail to a mid-position and to a storage position when not in use.
There is some concern that a patient might trap some portion of their body between the siderail and the bed. There is further concern with trapping some portion of the patient between the siderail and the bed as the siderail is lowered.
It would be advantageous to provide a bed siderail that minimizes the opportunity for part of a patient's body to be wedged between the bed and the siderail. It would further be advantageous to provide a siderail configured to minimize the opportunity for part of a patient's body to be trapped during a lowering operation of the bed siderail.